Deadline’s The Contenders: Cary Fukunaga & Abraham Attah On The Challenges Of ‘Beasts Of No Nation’

At our big Deadline Presents The Contenders awards-season event November 7 at the DGA, we welcomed Netflix for the first time. Largely known for their Emmy campaigns, Netflix is dipping its toes now into the Oscar game with Beasts Of No Nation, its first narrative theatrical release(the company has had a couple of documentary nominees in past years).

The film about child soldiers has gained considerable industry notoriety this Oscar season. The big question is how will Academy members accept this movie that debuted nominally in theaters (mostly Landmark, but grossing under $100,000 for its entire run) and day-and-date on the streaming service. Is it a game-changer? Time will tell, but Netflix got good news this week with five Independent Spirit nominations including three for director-writer-producer-cinematographer Cary Joji Fukunaga. I sat down with him and his young star Abraham Attah to discuss how the project came about, Attah’s casting, and the challenges of location shooting for this brutal and intense film.